What Defines Us
by boldlikeblack
Summary: A job in Gotham shines a light on what exactly makes Arthur tick.  Eames is along for the ride.  Arthur/Eames, hints of Ariadne/Cobb.
1. Prologue

**Disclaimer: I think it should be obvious that none of this belongs to me. The lovely officers of the GPD can be found on Wikipedia and the rest is property of Nolan and DC. I'm not making any money off this. This is simply to indulge my creativity/curiosity/adoration of A/E.**

**A/N: Nolan on Nolan. How could I resist? Will the Arthur/Eames as time goes on. Let me know if you'll read the rest.**

It was a miserable night to be out. Wave after wave of water came crashing down from the sky, hitting the pavement so hard the rain seemed like it was coming from everywhere. Officer Josephine "Josie Mac" MacDonald could barely make out the flashing lights of the ambulances, fire trucks and squad cars that littered the highway between Gotham and Blüdhaven.

The road that stretched between the two cities was no stranger to accidents but, from what dispatch had said, Josie knew that this one was particularly bad. Dispatch had called in every available member of the Gotham Police Department and even a few from Blüdhaven since the crash was barely within GPD limits. Josie hiked her collar tight around her neck as her partner, Officer Marcus Driver, parked their squad car behind one of the Gotham City Fire Department vans. Bolstering herself, Josie quickly opened the door and headed out into the rain.

It was slow going to the crash site and by the time Josie and Marcus found the officer in charge; Josie was soaked all the way down to her underwear. She was a foot and a half away from the lead officer when she recognized him as Sergeant David Cornwall. He was a good cop, Josie mused as he tried to make out who else was joining the investigation, one of the few that the Gotham PD had to offer. She was glad it wasn't some other asshole running the show.

"What do we got, Sergeant?" Marcus asked when they reached him.

"Single car collision, car flipped a number of times, then it looks like it went through the barrier over here. Driver was a pregnant woman in her mid-twenties. GFD had to cut her out of the car and the paramedics pronounced her dead on scene," Sergeant Cornwall explained tersely as he guided them over to the shoulder.

At the bottom of the gully, below the ripped out frame of the guard rail was what had once been an older model American car, a Ford or a Chevrolet, but it was hard to tell. The fire and rescue workers had ripped the driver's side open to get the woman out and none of the windows were intact.

There was something that struck Josie as strange about the crash and she was sliding down the side of the gully before she even realized. Marcus was calling her name and she was aware that both he and the Sergeant were following her down, but it was like something was pulling at the back of her mind. She walked right past the wreck, about twenty feet into the woods on the passenger side. If she hadn't walked into the car seat, she would have missed it entirely.

"Jesus Christ," she shouted, "Serge, there's a car seat back here!"

The Sergeant was radioing for fire and rescue to come back to the wreck when he and Marcus caught up with her. Josie barely glanced at them as she pushed further back into the trees. There was a child lost in the bush somewhere and she had to find him. She sent her flashlight out into the trees in careful arches and then turned sharply to the left.

The beam of her flashlight illuminated the boy, who couldn't have been more than three or four, where he was lying hidden by the underbrush. One of his arms was bent at an unnatural angle and Josie noted that his breathing was laboured. She feared his ribs might be broken and prayed that the boy wasn't bleeding inside.

"Back here!" Josie shouted, pointing her flashlight over her head. She held it vertical as she kneeled in the mud next to the boy. "Hey buddy," she said, "everything is going to be okay. I promise."

When he spoke, the boy's voice was faint. "Mommy?" he asked, his big brown eyes filling with tears.

Josie bit her lip. "Help is coming little man; you need to stay still okay? Can you do that for me?" she requested.

The boy nodded as best he could.

Josie did her best to smile at the boy and wondered if he could see it in the dark. "You have to stay awake though. If it doesn't hurt too much, you have to keep talking to me."

The boy nodded again.

The urge to touch him, to comfort him, was so strong that Josie barely had time to suppress it before lifting her hand to reach for him. "What's your name, buddy?" she asked.

"Arthur," he whispered, "my name is Arthur."

Then, mercifully, the paramedics arrived.


	2. I

**Disclaimer: I definitely don't own Batman or Inception. (Or Smallville)**

**A/N: I've neglected this story for much too long. Arthur and Eames got jealous of how much time I was spending on Kurtofsky (Glee) and Jyler (The Vampire Diaries). They teamed up and orchestrated a mental revolt when I decided that I was going to board the SS Aiden/Josh (Syfy's Being Human). I can't promise regular updates, or even long ones (this chapter is very, very short), but I can promise I won't abandon this. I will finish it, provided I have total cooperation of my muse.**

**Dedication for this chapter goes to Touchin' Me Touchin' You for reminding me that people were actually interested in this fic and wanted to know where I'm going with it.**

**Cheers – B**

**BBB**

Gotham was, for all its seedy underbelly and deliciously rampant criminal activity, a place that Eames preferred to avoid under all circumstance. Perhaps that was why he'd chosen to go on a weeklong bender after agreeing to take a job there. Or maybe it had been the thought of getting the old crew together that had prompted the binge. The nearly unbearable hangover Eames was suffering made the details quite fuzzy.

He wouldn't have taken the job if anyone other than Cobb had offered it. Eames was fond enough of the Extractor and bored enough with the life he'd led since the Inception job that he'd agreed to Cobb's proposal without allowing the man to fully explain what it was that they were going to Gotham to do. If Eames was being honest, he might have agreed to the job simply for the sheer joy of pushing Arthur's buttons. He imagined Arthur would have an even more rigid stick up his ass now that he owned a third of Cobb's legitimate PASIV consulting business.

Apparently Cobb and Arthur were making quite a name for themselves, in law enforcement of all things. They had secured major contracts with police departments in Los Angeles, Montreal, Metropolis and Miami. Rumour had it that they'd even consulted with the FBI's Behaviour Analysis Unit to extract information from some rather delicate witnesses. Eames found the whole thing rather ironic. Of course, none of Cobb and Arthur's success would have been possible without Ariadne. She was the very best Architect in the business and could have made a fortune in illegal work if she'd set her mind to it, but she'd become rather attached to 'her boys', as she called them, during the Inception job. She was the mastermind behind the whole business, in fact; as she'd tracked down Cobb as soon as was proper and bent his ear with her ideas until he'd agreed to start things up.

Eames was surprised to see Ariadne waiting for him in the Arrivals area, but pulled her into a quick hug and gave her a smacking kiss on the cheek. Stepping back, he took in her appearance. In her ruffled cream blouse, charcoal pantsuit and leather flats, Ariadne looked a far cry from the student her remembered. "My, don't you look fancy," Eames mused. "How's tricks?"

Ariadne smiled brightly and looped her elbow through his as they made their way to the baggage claim. "Busy," she replied. "We've been back to back since March. I'm supposed to be in Bora Bora right now," she sighed.

"Alone?" Eames inquired.

"With a friend," Ariadne said quickly.

"A friend?" Eames asked, raising an eyebrow.

Ariadne blushed deeply as they reached the correct conveyor belt. "His name is Eric. We met on a case in Metropolis. He's an orderly at Belle Reve," she answered.

"A very good friend then," Eames teased, chuckling.

"I hope we're still...friends," Ariadne admitted, "even though he's taking our trip to Bora Bora with his sister instead of me."

"If you need a shoulder to cry on..." Eames purred, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively.

"That's why I've got Arthur, isn't it?" she replied cheekily.

"How is darling Arthur? Adjusting well to legitimacy?" Eames quipped with forced lightness.

Ariadne's lips pressed into a thin line as Eames pulled his suitcase from the conveyor belt. "He didn't want to take this job," she stated.

"Can't blame him for wanting to avoid Gotham. This city is mad," Eames said as they began the long walk out of Gotham International.

"He's from here, originally. He'd actually planned to spend his vacation here," Ariadne remarked.

Eames' eyebrows rose to meet his hairline. "Really? I had no idea. He never talks about himself, you know."

Ariadne nodded. "Arthur's unhappy about the specifics, from what I understand," she said.

"How do you feel about the specifics?" Eames asked, exciting the doors and striding toward where the taxis gathered.

"I don't know them," she admitted, shaking her head.

"What?"

Ariadne shrugged and brushed her hair away from her face. "Dom's the only one who knows all the details. He's contractually obligated to keep us in the dark until he's got us all in one place."

"Why does Arthur know, then?" Eames wondered, suspicious.

Sighing, Ariadne looked up at him. "Dom called it a possible conflict of interest," she replied.

"I didn't know Arthur had interests," Eames commented wryly as a cab pulled up.

Ariadne just shook her head at him and got into the car.

Forcing a cheeky smile onto his face, Eames handed the driver his suitcase and slipped in beside her.


End file.
